Shadow Slave

Usually, it would have taken Kai a lot longer to fly across the city to reach the tranquil terrace district… not that he would have. But today, the famous idol neglected his habit of staying low and out of sight. It seemed that his speed increased tremendously, as well, because ten minutes later, he was already at Sunny's door.

Maybe because of that, there was no crowd of paparazzi following him.

As they waited for Cassie, Effie rummaged through the empty refrigerator, then walked away from it with a disappointed sigh.

"There's no food!"

Sunny, who was evaluating the damage the boisterous huntress had done to the guest bedroom, glanced at her darkly.

"We've been gone for months. What did you expect?"

Effie made a sad face, then shrugged.

"But I'm hungry!"

Sunny let out an exasperated breath.

"...I have some synthpaste, if you want."

She shuddered and opened her mouth to retort, but at that moment, there was a knock on the door. If not for the haughty shadow standing guard outside — reluctantly, of course, since mundane tasks such as this were grossly beneath it — Sunny would have tensed up.

However, he already knew that it was Cassie.

The blind girl walked inside, froze for a moment, then raised a deliciously smelling package.

"...I brought food."

quick glance at

Someone has

stare at

Master, his looks assumed an almost hypnotizing quality.

different degree. After studying Kai and Cassie for a bit, Sunny couldn't help but shake his head ruefully, a stunned expression on his face. He finally understood why Master Jet had called herself average when they

in one sentence with someone like her. Jet possessed an intangible quality that no one he had ever met was able to match. The four of them were Masters too, now, but they were far away from

And Sunny himself?

sure that he qualified to be considered a flower boy, as Soul Reaper had once predicted, but even he couldn't call himself unassuming anymore. The scrawny kid from the outskirts was gone. Instead, a young

darkness, visible only to Sunny himself, golden threads of Weaver's forbidden legacy glowed with the

four of them settled around the table and

the four seemed too joyous… well, except for Effie, who couldn't stop grinning and stealing glances at her pristine,

just felt… hurt,

their souls cut. Now that the danger had passed and the members of the cohort were back in the real world, all those invisible scars were starting to make their

the Ivory City… all of it was slowly coming back to haunt

others had their share of demons

while, Kai poured himself a cup of tea, looked

don't remember much

stared at the archer with a

You were swallowed

Kai smiled with embarrassment:

I just, sort of… jumped into his mouth. Because I didn't

didn't say anything. She even forgot about

down,

had assumed that I would not trust anyone with the knives, I think. After you killed the dragon, there was no real reason for him to stay. He left to salvage at least some rewards before

grew quiet for a